by: Fionn

Group B: Squirtle, Azubu.Symbol, MarineKingPrime, Woongjin_Soulkey

Time's Up

In this group we have three players who in the course of lifespan of Wings of Liberty, were all at one time or another a favorite to win the Code S championship. The first person on that list of thought to be champions would be Squirtle, the former co-ace of the Startale Protoss line with PartinG, now gone in search of a new team. Even without a team backing him, Squirtle is looking the best he has in a long time, making it to the Ro16 after a few disappointing seasons and reminding us that he is still one of the top Protoss players in the world.

Let me put this out there: Squirtle should have won the second season of 2012. He lost his first game of the season against MMA and then reeled off fourteen straight victories without a loss heading into the finals. Mvp, his opponent, was injured, hobbled and was getting through the knockout rounds with a variety of cheeses and mind games. Naniwa and Parting, both players who could have been a threat to Mvp in a macro game, fell to Mvp's cheeses and their lack of experience in the booth. Squirtle, too, looked bewildered and scared in the first half of the GSL finals, losing his unstoppable edge and dropping three games in a row.

Squirtle managed to find his comfort zone and came back to tie it up 3-3, and looked on track to complete to reverse sweep after blocking Mvp's all-in attempt in the final game. However, Mvp was able to prey on Squirtle's inexperience, turn the game around, and finish Squirtle with a follow-up all-in. Squirtle became the player who came closest to the GSL championship to never win it, wasting a season when he showed fourteen straight games of pure domination. His silver medley continued from there, taking second at WCS Korea not too long after, and then fell into a bad slump after getting his third straight major silver medal in a row.

Squirtle's WoL legacy will be defined in this tournament. He can either make it to the finals and win, turning him from a choker to one of the best Protoss in the WoL era, or he will fall short of the throne, solidifying himself as the best player who almost made it. It's harsh to say that in a tournament with heavy hitters like Life, Parting, Innovation and others that winning it all is the only way to change the perception of his WoL career, but that's what Squirtle will need to do to if he wants to place himself next to Parting and MC as a top three Protoss in Wings of Liberty.

His first opponent of the night will be another player who was once expected to conquer the Code S throne, that being Azubu's new pick-up Symbol. Thought of to be the heavy favorite in his royal road season during the summer of 2012, Symbol was up 2 - 0 in the quarterfinals against Seed, looking to head into the semifinals without much trouble against the top Protoss on LG-IM. Seed came back, winning three in a row and knocking Symbol out of Code S, starting a trend where Symbol could never get over the round of eight hump in Code S.

The new hottest Zerg on the block only a half year ago, Symbol now feels like the toy that got played with for a few weeks before getting put on the shelf for the newer, more flashy models. Life, Sniper, the KeSPA Zergs, and even his friend and former teammate Hyun all started to do better than Symbol, getting farther in tournaments and receiving praise for their play. Life won the fourth season of Code S, Sniper and Hyun headlining the fifth, and the KeSPA Zergs have Proleague to show off their moves. Symbol stagnated in skill, his ZvZ started to falter, and he became just another Zerg in Code Z.

Winning a championship wouldn't be as important for Symbol as it would be for Squirtle or other players who have come excruciatingly close, but it would be a huge plus for his new team Azubu, and it would mean that he could do what Hyun could not, winning a GSL championship in his first final. Hyun and Symbol will be compared to each other throughout their careers, close friends on TSL and always sharing strategies together, and this will be our chance to see how well they can do away from each other. Hyun already failed in his Ro32 round, continuing the curse of Code S finalists falling early after their successful season, and Symbol is still in the tournament, hoping to change the opinion on him. Some think it was Hyun's strategies and help that made Symbol a star and not the other way around, but Symbol will try to prove those people wrong as the ace of Azubu.

Mvp is dead. Well, okay, he's not really dead, but falling to Code B is as close as dead you can be in the world of Korean Starcraft. After never falling to Code B in the history of the GSL, Mvp fell in the final season of Wings of Liberty, going out in the Ro32 of Code S and then getting beat by SKT's sOo in the first round of Code A. This leaves MarineKingPrime, Mvp's personal punching bag, as the only player to start off as a Code S player and never fall into Code B. It's a pretty nice accomplishment, never falling to rock bottom, but it won't mean much if MarineKing can't win a GSL.

We've talked for the past two plus years that it's just a matter of time for MarineKing to win a GSL champion.

'Oh, he lost to Nestea in seven games? He's just a kid! He plays too gimmicky, but he has a lot of potential to be a champion.'

'Oh, he lost to Mvp in a sweep? That's okay! Mvp is really, really good and a former BW A-teamer. MarineKing is getting a lot better, and he'll win his GSL in time. It's not like Mvp can beat him forever, right?'

'Oh, he lost to Mvp again? Don't worry! This time he took two games off Mvp, showing that he is getting much better and will soon be the best player in the world. He's been in three finals in such a short period that there is no question he will win a championship soon.'

'Oh, he lost to MMA in the Super Tournament semifinals after being up 0-2? That kinda sucks, but it's not the end of the world! MarineKing showed that he can beat any in the world this tournament, and he is so close to reaching that championship. He's maturing as a player and will soon be a Code S champion!'

'Oh, it's 2013 and MarineKing still isn't champion? Wait, it's the final season of Wings of Liberty? Where did the time go? How could this happen? How hasn't he won a championship!?'

Time's up, MarineKing. Mvp is as far away as he could possibly be, and this is your final chance at becoming a GSL champion in Wings of Liberty. Winning a Heart of the Swarm title would still be a huge accomplishment and put you right next to Mvp as a Terran GSL champion, but it wouldn't be the same. Since the second open season, we've all been waiting for the king to claim his throne. Three final losses and a huge semifinal choke to MMA will be the everlasting history that MKP leaves behind if he cannot finally - in his last chance - win the championship.

After two straight Ro8 failures in the past seasons, MarineKing is inching closer to a championship, but there isn't any time left for him to continue his slow movement towards the final. This is the final Wings season, Mvp is in Code B, and this is MarineKing's chance to change his legacy forever. His TvZ might not be good enough if he has to face off against Life, but if he can some favorable draws and get into the quarterfinals for his third straight season, he can get to the finals. In five years when we're gearing up or already in the Legacy of the Void era of GSL, we'll look back at MarineKing in the first SC2 era in one of two ways:

Future A: 'MarineKing in WoL? He was Mvp's bitch. He lost a lot in finals, cried a lot in the booth when he lost, and he never won the championship. Yeah, he was a good player, but he didn't have what it takes to win a championship. He was a choker and could never get it done when it mattered.'

Future B: 'MarineKing in WoL? He lost a lot to Mvp and failed in three GSL finals, but he won the last one. He matured as a player, grew up through his losses, and finally won the big one at the end of Wings of Liberty. He was the only player in Code S to never fall into Code B, and he was one of the greatest players in the era. It was worth the wait to see him finally become the king of GSL.'

To round things out, we have Woongjin_Soulkey. Unlike the other three, he does not need this victory to change people's thoughts on his career in Starcraft 2. Only having played Wings for over six months, Soulkey is considered one of the better KeSPA players, and he is trying to prove that his Ro8 placement last season wasn't a fluke like most of season five is considered to be. Innovation, the only player of last season's final four to still be in this season's Code S, is the player who beat Soulkey soundly in last season's quarters, meaning that it doesn't look so bad losing to possibly the strongest Terran in the world at the moment.

Soulkey's greatest skill is his detective-like, calculating abilities to scout an opponent before they face off. This is one of the main reasons why he thrashed Life last season, proclaiming in his winner's interview that he was the only player he focused on, breaking down Life's entire game style and creating the perfect strategy to stop him. With his notebook detailing of all his opponent's weaknesses, MarineKing is a player that Soulkey should have more than enough information to battle against.

His ZvT was his weakest match-up only a few weeks ago, but he's currently on a 7-1 streak against Terran, taking out heavy hitters like Taeja and Fantasy in his most recent games. Soulkey is KeSPA's strongest Zerg, being one of the best, if not the best, of his race when the transition occurred between Brood War and Starcraft 2. His play has transitioned well to a new game, his hype from the start of the transition coming through with how well he's been playing lately. Wings of Liberty might be ending, but Soulkey's legacy in this new game is just beginning.

Overall thoughts and predictions in haiku form:

Time's up, MarineKing
Squirtle and Soulkey too strong
Junghoon's tears endless

Squirtle > Symbol
Soulkey > MKP
Squirtle > Soulkey
MarineKing > Symbol
Soulkey > MarineKing

Squirtle and Soulkey advance